i’m not a massage therapist, but i’ve had a lot of massage work done on this trainwreck body of mine, and one of the most valuable things i’ve learned is, to dumb down some of what the previous experts said: cold muscles don’t stretch.
cold muscles are muscles without a lot of blood flowing through them, and they just don’t have much flexibility. you can actually damage your body by stretching prior to warming up, so what you’ve probably been taught is wrong - you need to warm up before you stretch, not the other way around.
for some reason, i tend to have particularly cold, tight muscles in my upper back, and at first my massage therapist would knead at it for ages trying to get it to warm and loosen up, before he had an unorthodox idea. while i lied prone on the table, he would take one of my arms, position it in a certain way, and then have me perform brief exercises that he provided resistance to. i would push my hand up while he pushed back, pull my elbow back while he pushed, etc, and like magic, my upper back would be loose and warm in about two minutes instead of twenty.
now, any time i want to stretch something, i figure out a movement to work that muscle group first. if i want to stretch my quads, i do some squats; if i want to stretch my back, i do some rows or deadlifts; if i want to stretch my calves, i do some calf raises.
it doesn’t need to be much - just a few repetitions will pull blood into the muscle, bringing warmth and elasticity. when you stretch after, it will hurt a lot less and feel more effective.
there’s nothing that can really replace the expertise and skill of a trained massage therapist, but if you can’t afford to get massages (which is most of us, lbr) or have issues with being touched, you can at least get some benefits by using a massage ball. you can also use a cheaper tennis or lacrosse ball, but it’s smarter to use one specifically designed for use on your body.
that type of firm foam ball is good for working out pressure points, while a spiky rubber ball like this one is better for breaking up those adhesions the previous commenter mentioned. yes, they are just as painful as they look, but trust me, if you have a lot of those adhesions, it’s worth it. sometimes you can actually feel the thunk of the muscle fibers coming unglued from each other.
there’s also a contraption called a massage cane, which i saw my massage therapist frequently use on himself. it’s basically a stick with a hook and a bunch of knobs that allow you to reach and apply pressure to tight spots you couldn’t otherwise reach or have enough leverage to push on, like your neck, back, and butt. (you wouldn’t believe how much tension you hold in your butt muscles and how good massaging them feels. not sexual, just really good.)
a lot of people also recommend those foam rollers, but to be honest, i tried it and didn’t like it. i had a hard time getting my disabled body into position and keeping it there, then applying enough pressure without it being too much and becoming really painful. when you’re already exhausted and in pain, holding your body up off the ground and then rolling back and forth is an unpleasant ordeal.
oh, and one more thing: you need to roll out your feet, especially if you’re on them a lot, especially if you often wear high heels. the fascia in the soles of your feet get tight, then tighter, then tighter, it pulls the arch of your foot into a flatter shape, which reduces the shock absorption your foot is meant to provide. and once your feet get fucked up, your whole body gets fucked up. trust me.
there are specially designed foot rollers, but i’ve heard a massage therapist recommend just using golf balls, which are the perfect size to dig into the arches of your feet. meanwhile, i accidentally discovered that some of my cat’s toys, firm little foam balls, work really well without being super hard.
rolling your feet will hurt, a lot, but you will thank me later, i promise. go roll your feet.